Steve Bono is a career quality starter — a quarterback whose body of work places Bono in the top half of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Bono's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

QBCAR#12ACT

Steve Bono

1× Pro BowlTop 30% all-time QBsHigh-End Starter

Height6'4"

Weight215 lb

BornMay 11, 1962

Age64

CollegeUCLA See College Stats

Rookie yr1985

Draft

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 12% of the all-time Passing Yards leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

12% of the all-time Passing Yards leader12

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 85%.

Encyclopedia Coverage

Career Value · VORP

68 career value over replacement — #1671 all-time of 4,649. 13.6/season above a replacement-level QB.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #142 (Rd 6) · MIN · 1985 · +20.4 vs expected KV-H

51actual

30.6 expected · Δ+20.4

Fan Rating

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Compare Steve Bono vs Player Report data error

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Not available for this player

Defensive StatsNot available for this player

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro DayNot available for this player

Proprietary LayersKV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — era-normalized career rating 0–100 calibrated within position group (1999+ coverage). SIS (Snap Impact Score, 2012+) — per-snap production z-scored within position. VORP — value over replacement player. Durability IQ — games-played percentile adjusted for era.

Pre-1999 players have bio + draft data but counting stats are not available from any freely-licensed source. Players with ★ Career Only see verified career aggregates from nflverse draft_picks.

Understanding These Stats

Passing

Cmp / Att — Completions and pass attempts.

Cmp% — Completion percentage — completions ÷ attempts × 100.

Yds — Passing yards — total air + yards after catch on completions.

TD / TD% — Passing touchdowns. TD% = TDs per 100 attempts, measuring scoring efficiency.

Int / Int% — Interceptions thrown. Int% = INTs per 100 attempts — the primary ball-security metric.

Y/A — Yards per attempt — passing yards ÷ attempts. The core passing efficiency rate.

AdjY/A — Adjusted yards per attempt: (Pass Yds + 20×TD − 45×INT) ÷ Att. Penalizes turnovers and rewards touchdowns — widely considered the most predictive single-season QB metric.

TD:INT — TD-to-interception ratio — passing touchdowns ÷ interceptions thrown. Elite QBs sustain career ratios above 3.0; HOF greats often exceed 4.0. Not shown when no interceptions.

Rate — NFL passer rating — the official formula combining Cmp%, Y/A, TD%, and INT% on a 0–158.3 scale. Good QB performance ≈ 90+; elite ≈ 110+.

Sk — Times sacked — how many times the QB was brought down behind the line of scrimmage.

Rushing

Att — Rushing attempts (carries).

Yds — Rushing yards.

TD — Rushing touchdowns.

Y/A — Yards per carry — rushing yards ÷ carries. The core rushing efficiency rate; 4.5+ is solid, 5+ is elite.

TD% — Touchdown rate per carry (TDs ÷ carries × 100) — measures scoring efficiency per touch independent of volume. Red-zone workhorses lead here.

1D — First downs gained on rushing plays.

1D% — First-down conversion rate (first downs ÷ carries × 100) — how often a carry moves the chains. Top RBs convert on 25%+ of attempts.

Fmb — Rushing fumbles lost — the key ball-security stat for running backs. Below 1 per season is elite.

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

SIS (Snap Impact Score) — Per-snap production z-scored within position group and era (2012+). Measures how much a player produced per opportunity, not raw volume.

VORP (Value Over Replacement) — Sum of max(0, season KV-H − positional replacement level) across a career. Measures career value above the minimum-roster baseline at each position.

Durability IQ — 0–100 score reflecting how many games a player played relative to peers at the same position in the same era. Adjusts for injury-shortened seasons.

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Steve opened the San Francisco 49ers QB lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Elvis Grbac (1994–1996).

Steve Bono 1989–1993Elvis Grbac 1994–1996Jeff Garcia 1999–2003Tim Rattay 2000–2005Alex Smith 2005–2012Colin Kaepernick 2011–2016Jimmy Garoppolo 2017–2022Brock Purdy 2022–2025

Steve inherited the Kansas City Chiefs QB room from Todd Blackledge (1983–1987), and handed it to Rich Gannon (1995–1998).

Todd Blackledge 1983–1987Steve Bono 1994–1996Rich Gannon 1995–1998Elvis Grbac 1997–2000Trent Green 2001–2006Damon Huard 2006–2008Matt Cassel

The room is reconstructed from arrival order among durable members (≥4 seasons with the club) at the player’s position group — a lineage by arrival, not a week-by-week depth chart. Distinct from the league-wide positional GOAT torch.

Movementderived from season history

1999team change
Joined CAR (from STL)
1999final season
Last recorded season with CAR
1998team change
Joined STL (from GB)
1997team change
Joined GB (from KC)
1994team change
Joined KC (from SF)
1989team change
Joined SF (from PIT)
1987team change
Joined PIT (from MIN)
1985draft
Drafted by MIN — Round 6, Pick 142

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 5-season peers. See all →

peak 53

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+1991

C1992

D1993

B1995

C+1996

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 13 seasons.

49%

19851999

1985 · backup · 1/16 G1986 · backup · 1/16 G1988 · backup · 2/16 G1989 · backup · 1/16 G

1991 · cause not documented · 56%1993 · cause not documented · 50%1994 · cause not documented · 13%1997 · cause not documented · 13%1998 · cause not documented · 13%1999 · cause not documented · 6%

Durability IQ

Composite score across availability, IR frequency, and injury severity. See all →

Fragile

Season	Actual Pass Yds	Pass Yds/G	→ 2025 Pass Yds	→ 2025 /G
1991	1,617	179.7	3,819+2,202	224.7
1992	463	28.9	2,636+2,173	155.1
1993	416	52	2,744+2,328	161.4
1995	3,121	195.1	3,834+713	225.5
1996	2,572	183.7	3,701+1,129	217.7

Steve Bono

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1985 Draft Class· this player went #142

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography